Catching Feelings

Chapter 33

It's a good thing everything was on the house tonight, because that was going to get ran through as well. When the woman walked away, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He turned around and saw an all too familiar face staring back at him. In that instance, his face dropped and his mood changed.

"Hello stranger." Drake turned around to see Dollicia standing there wearing a cream colored dress that would make any man salivate. "You're a hard man to get in contact with. What, you don't know how to answer phones anymore?"

Drake's panicked eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. He quickly stood to his feet to check and make sure Raven wasn't seeing the same thing. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not stalking you. I'm getting paid to make an appearance tonight, it just so happens that you're here." Dollicia replied with an eye roll, she was still bitter about the way things ended between them. "Where's your little girlfriend? You two are still together... or did cut her off already?"

"You know damn well Raven and I are still together." This was something that had become public knowledge. After being spotted a few times having dinner and sitting courtside together, the word got out that he was off the market. With him being who he is, and Raven being known as a celebrity choreographer, pretty much anything they did was in the spotlight. This is why they spent most of their nights in the solitude of their homes. "So since you're not stalking me, why don't you tell me what you want?"

Dollicia flipped her sandy brown hair over her shoulder flashing a sly grin. "It's a good thing she's not here, because we need to talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about, especially after that shit you pulled back in New York." Drake said with a harden edge to his voice.

Their relationship or whatever you would like to call it wasn't perfect. In fact it was far from it, but he always treated her with decency and respect, and whatever she wanted he made sure she got it. So for her to try and blatantly hurt him made him feel a little less than friendly towards her.

"That's funny because from where I stand we have a lot to talk about." The shady tone in her voice caught his attention. Seeing his hesitant yet curious expression fixed on her made the corners of Dollicia's mouth turn up. Her smile grew even wider when she looked over his shoulder and saw her former roommate making her way through the crowd. "We can wait for Raven if you want; it looks like she's coming this way."    

Drake's eyes followed hers and saw that Raven had just got there. She was coming towards the VIP when suddenly she stopped to talk to some woman. He let out a relived sigh; this had brought him some time. Drake grabbed Dollicia by the elbow and pulled her away from the crowd and in the opposite direction of Raven. "You got ten seconds, talk."

~~~~~

The club was packed wall to wall. Raven wasn't expecting things to be this crazy. After all, it was only a Thursday night. As she maneuvered through the crowd with people bumping into her left and right, she ran into an old friend of hers Danielle Polanco. She first met the fiery Latina when the two of them were hired as background dancers in one of Amerie's videos some years back, and from then on they found themselves constantly bumping into each having worked for the same artist such as Janet, Beyonce, and Usher. They've since moved onto higher platforms graduating from simply dancing in the videos to choreographing them, and now even venturing into acting.

"Raven! How've you been?" Danielle shouted over the loud music seeing Raven in front of her. She wrapped her free hand around her neck, while balancing her drink in the other. "I hear congratulations are in order. I'm so proud of you chica!" She said as she released her.

Raven smiled in total shock. It's been over a year since she had seen Danielle. "Aw, thanks girl, I appreciate that. How's the tour going, I haven't had the chance to catch a show?" Raven asked.

Danielle replied with a playfully eye roll making Raven laugh. She knew what that look meant. "Ya tu sabes mami. Long flights, bags under my eyes, sore feet, but it don't stop me from stepping on that stage." The two women nodded in agreement. Everything Danielle just said was reason Raven wanted to take her acting seriously.

"I here ya." Raven laughed.

This girl was always in go mode. Even as they stood there talking her body still managed to sway to the beat with the contents of her glass splashing side to side. "So are you guys filming yet?" she asked.

Tired of getting bumped left and right, Raven and Danielle stepped away from the dance floor standing next to the stairs of the VIP section where there was less traffic. "Yeah, we've been at it for a month now. This is actually my first night out in a while; Robert's been moving production back and forth between LA and Mexico so things have been pretty hectic."

"I know what you mean. How's your boo handling it, you know how men get when we're off doing our own thing." Danielle asked, throwing Raven off a bit. It's been a year since the two of them talked, so Raven was curious as to how Danielle knew she was seeing someone. Then it hit her... the tabloids and the blogs. Having her relationship on display for the world to see was still new to Raven.

A forced smile spread across Raven's face. The quality time aspect in her relationship was missing making things a bit stressful between them. She just hoped it didn't show. "It gets crazy with our schedules and we have out moments, but we're making it work. He probably has his lip poked out right now; I was supposed to meet him here an hour ago." Raven stood on her toes in her heels to glance up the stairs seeing if she could spot Drake, but from her view point she could only see some of the guys.

"Well I'm gonna let you go before I get you in trouble." They hugged once more doing the side to side rock. Danielle released Raven from her vice grip with a smile on her face. "Make sure you call me, we  have to get together for lunch or something... oh and tell Tiana I said hey when you talk to her." She shouted as her fleeting body shimmied through the crowd.        

Meanwhile Drake was engrossed in his conversation with Dollicia. He stood there in utter shock and disbelief staring at the screen of her phone. No words were able to form in his mind and for a moment, he felt his heart sink into his stomach. Eyes that were once soft and downcast finally glanced up with an incensed glint behind them. 

The satisfaction of watching the ground fall out from under him was better than she anticipated. Instead of showing the giddy grin that was bubbling inside of her, Dollicia put on a false look of sympathy. "So I take it you haven't seen it yet?"

"Where'd you get this?" Drake asked.

Dollicia took her phone back and shook her head. "Does it matter? That's "your girl" kissing Trey Songz." She pointed out holding the phone up to his face. "Sorry to bust you're bubble baby, but she's not as innocent as you think."